Once Massachusetts opened up for business, it seemed everyone stopped wearing masks and reverted to old habits. I went to a couple of small parties where half the people were vaccinated, and no one wore a mask. You can’t drink or eat with a mask. People greeted each other by shaking hands, hugging, or kissing. I didn’t notice elbow bumps or attempts to maintain social distance.
I am now fully vaccinated because it’s two weeks since the second Pfizer vaccine. After the first vaccine, my arm was sore for a day. After the second vaccine, I felt tired for several days. When I tried to exercise, I developed a headache and felt woozy. The reactions were minor.
I finally decide to get vaccinated because of the rising death toll and hospitalization rate among the unvaccinated people versus the nominal death rate and dramatic drop in hospitalization among the vaccinated. It was clear the vaccine worked. The benefits of getting vaccinated far outweighed the risk. I was at high risk, and I wanted to socialize. Furthermore, everyone I loved was immunized.
While Pfizer and Moderna Covid vaccines reduced disease severity in vaccinated patients, they did not prevent covid infections, especially from the various variants. That meant fully vaccinated people could become asymptomatic carriers and spread covid to the unvaccinated. The risk of the unvaccinated getting covid got higher.
mRNA vaccines are novel vaccines, and we don’t know the long-term risks, so it’s a tough choice compounded by distrust of the healthcare system, public health officials, and the government.
If you’re unvaccinated, I suggest evaluating your risk by doing research. Unless you live in a remote village by yourself, you will find the benefits outweigh the risks. As for the long-term effects of the vaccine, that’s a bridge we will cross together if the time comes.
Hi Angela, I understand why you got vaccinated, I wish you hadn’t but what is done is done.
I going to quote you, “It’s worth noting vaccinated people have increased the pool of asymptomatic carriers.” Exactly what I been thinking, could these variants be coming from vaccinated people?
Also PDR tests can’t rule out other viruses or bacteria as the actual cause for symptoms. Maybe we are being treated for the wrong thing. I still don’t like non visitation rules and if I want to be treated with HCQ on first signs or symptoms of Covid it should be my choice. Everywhere we are being stirred or herded into taking the shots and from the beginning this so-called pandemic was not handle properly in my humble opinion.
Hi Rudy, I agree with what you said. The public health messaging sucked from the very beginning. Now people are inundated with disinformation. There is so much noise along with shaming if you have questions, it’s hard to trust the system, and I don’t trust it. What I do trust is what I’ve observed. The people dying and getting sick from covid are overwhelmingly unvaccinated.
Vaccinated people can get infected and die, but that doesn’t appear to be common. Simply wearing a mask reduces the infection rate, so it’s not surprising we didn’t see much flu last year, and it looks like fewer respiratory infections. If I had gotten covid, I would not go to the hospital to be tortured. I would rather die. Black people are at higher risk for death due to medical racism that causes discriminatory healthcare. So when Black patients were sick with covid, they got sent home or put on a gurney to die. They did not receive the same quality care. Think about that, do you want to get covid and end up in the hospital with a bunch of stressed medical professionals who don’t like Black people? I’d say the benefits of the vaccine outweigh the risks despite not knowing the long-term effects.